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Bike Commuter's Non-Bike-Commuting Wife Tells Cyclist to Take the Lane!

My wife had an interesting story today about her commute home yesterday. My wife drives as she drops off and picks up our kids from day care.

She was driving down Bethel Road and had come to a stop at a location where there was a right-turn-only lane. A cyclist rode up past her, sitting RIGHT ON TOP of the white line between her lane and the right-turn lane. My wife, being sensitive to the issues of cyclists, figured she'd wait to make sure he wasn't going straight through the light instead of turning (as he hadn't really picked a lane).

Then, he moved over into the right turn lane more completely, so my wife then figured that he was indeed turning. And as the light turned and the two cars ahead of her went forward, she started to do so as well. Imagine her surprise when he started to go straight - and attempting to swerve into the lane next to her out of the right-turn lane!

At the next light, my wife pulled up next to him and let him have it with the same advice that most experienced commuter cyclists give most inexperienced ones: TAKE THE LANE!

He complained that was concerned about slowing down traffic, and didn't want to take the whole lane. And my wife then explained to him that she'd rather he slow down traffic and be predictable than he be out of her way but she have no idea what he was going to do!

Folks, I get a few emails now and then asking for advice on how to start out, and the first thing I tell every single cyclist who asks for advice is this:

STOP CARING IF YOU HOLD UP TRAFFIC!

You're slower than cars. You're going to hold up traffic. It's simply going to happen. So do the smart thing, and TAKE THE LANE. Take it just as if you're in a car and be predictable. Sure, you'll piss off a few people because of your speed, but you'll be safer.

And did I mention how proud I am of my wife for telling him to take the lane? :)

Comments

This is one of the hardest things to teach any cyclist. Taking the lane is counterintuitive to many. They believe that being further left makes them more vulnerable, not less. But when a cyclist discovers that motorists will generally pass on his left by about as much room as he has to his right, that sudden dawn of comprehension is amazing. It's the key to safe, comfortable bicycle operation on city streets.

I think the fear of taking the lane goes back to the belief that the most dangerous thing that can happen to a cyclist is being rear-ended. And of course, as experienced commuter cyclists know, the most common and dangerous accident is the right-hook, which taking the lane almost totally prevents.

But yeah, it's certainly hard to understand by many - especially those who worry too much about slowing traffic. Hence, my initial words of advice as witnessed in the post:

The Dispatch report that Columbus Rides Bikes shared on Facebook today is entitled "More crashes come with more bicycle traffic on dedicated lanes," and discusses the new lanes and the number of accidents that have happened there. None of these accidents/crashes has been fatal.

So... you can read the article and get the statistics. Here's a summary of them, though, with a quote from the article:
...the number of crashes has jumped. Between 2012 and 2015, there were five crashes involving bicycles on Summit between Hudson and East 5th Avenue.…

In a move that has left quite a few people stranded in Columbus, the ride-sharing company Car2Go has announced today that they're pulling out of the local market as of May 31.

car2go is saddened to announce that we have made the difficult decision to suspend our operations in Columbus as of May 31. Read why here: https://t.co/gRSibUhotB
— car2go Columbus (@car2goColumbus) May 24, 2018
This has got me more than a little pissed off and very inconvenienced.

There's no doubt - Car2Go improved the quality of my family's life for the past few years while they were active in town. As a one-car family where I rode my bike and took the bus most days, Car2Go filled in the gap nicely when we needed that extra set of wheels to get ourselves places.

Here's the news they sent out via their website today:

HELLO,
We’re writing to let you know that after careful consideration, we have made the difficult decision to discontinue car2go service in Columbus, effective May 31, 2018.
In 201…

I've been out with the flu for a few days (no, I'm not oinking), and I missed this surprising post from Jeff Stephens of Consider Biking back on October 9th. Suffice to say that Jeff took some time to sit back and watch the behavior of our city's cyclists, and was dismayed at what he saw. I'm in complete agreement with Jeff on this issue. Simply too many Columbus cyclists do not obey the law. But let's look at the reasons that Jeff proposed in his commentary: Why are you riding this way? Are you so self-absorbed, that the world revolves around you? Are you just opportunistic since the bicycle gives you the opportunity to cheat traffic? Are you “expressing yourself” with your nonchalant coolness, hipness, whatever? Or, do you just not know any better? Do you just follow the example of the guy/gal in front of you because you’re new to urban bicycling? (I think it’s the latter.)Jeff's statement breaks the possible reasons for this behavior down into two extrem…